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Cycle Courier
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| Australian Cyclist, October 2005 By Belinda Keir Kate Frawley was easy to spot with her snazzy red jersey and helmet. Kate is one of two women among the eighty-odd Sydney cycle couriers. Her career started when, as a frustrated London commuter, she found riding faster than the Tube, which led to a stint on a sandwich bike and courier work back in Sydney. She now works for Australia Post - hence the red colour scheme - riding four days a week and studying on the fifth. Kate describes the couriers as "a fantastic community of free spirits" who just love what they do. Many are travellers, but others stick around enjoying a job that lets you ride a bike all day. It's attractive if you don't like a boss breathing down your neck. Couriers have fun riding in the city because they know every light, telegraph pole and building number and where the pedestrians are: "It's great to get from one end of George Street to the other - fast". I was surprised to hear that people who ride bikes all week for a living will ride them all weekend for fun. After work, couriers get out and race on the roads or tour the countryside or go bush with mountain bikes. The customers are anyone who needs things moved quickly around the city - documents, tickets, flowers and any item that has to be there in hard copy. For heavier items about 10 couriers ride "truck bikes". Unfortunately, as communication becomes increasingly electronic there are fewer jobs and more competition, so rates have gone nowhere for years. Most riders are casual, which means the pay is excellent in December and halves in January, but two companies - including Kate's - now pay by the hour rather than the item. As an employee Kate gets holidays, sick pay, and (most importantly) a steady income. Instead of handing out standard postal bikes, Messenger Post told their riders "here's a budget - get some wheels". Central Sydney bike shop Cheeky Monkey put together a base model with a standard frame and wheels, solid racks, no heavy suspension and straight handlebars, and the riders had a choice of tyres, saddle, gears/no gears, pedals and so on. About 40 per cent of couriers use single-speed bikes both for ease of maintenance and the 'cool factor', and for her single-speed Kate specified the best ratio to get quickly from Central railway to Circular Quay and up any hills without too much trouble. These days bike couriers generally have good relationships with the public. Despite media comments, the number of formal complaints to Council is quite small - just five since the launch of the Bicycle Courier Accord in 2003. Of those complaints, only one was specifically about an individual cyclist (for erratic riding along Clarence St), and in that instance the courier company took action against their employee. A level of professionalism is expected and people who are in the job for the long haul generally keep to it. The council spokesman also said: "The few complaints received from pedestrians relate to cyclists riding on the footpath or riding the wrong way, which can take pedestrians by surprise, and these sometimes include comments about cyclists riding through red lights. It should be noted that these complains refer to all cyclists, not specifically couriers." Footpath riding in the CBD is an issue for all riders. Without cycle infrastructure commuters and couriers often have no alternative, and in many instances it's faster on the footpath even if you get off the saddle and walk. What complainants don't realise is that if bike couriers were taken out of the CBD they would have to be replaced with double that number of vans. Finally, I asked how the job feels when it's cold and wet - are there days Kate says "I just don't want to do this"? It turns out that the running joke with couriers is to be standing dripping wet in a lift with an envelope in your hand and someone says, "I'd hate to have your job on a day like this". The answer is: "I'd hate to have your job on all the other days". Cycle Messenger World Championships, Sydney, 29-31 October, 2006. The championships have been going since 1993, and this will be the first time they have visited the southern hemisphere. The organisers expect 200 international riders and another 200 from around Australia. It will be a three-day event, held at various locations throughout Sydney. Info can be found at http://www.sydbma.org; the organising committee can be contacted at: sydney.massive@gmail.com |
